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Name the language

Simon on 02 Dec 2007

Language and Quiz questions | Comments (15)

15 Responses to “Name the language”

1. TJ on 02 Dec 2007 at 6:32 pm #

   no clue!
   but sounds a bit like … african!

2. Halabund on 02 Dec 2007 at 6:51 pm #

   It is some Romance language.

3. AR on 02 Dec 2007 at 8:17 pm #

   Galician, related to Portuguese and Spanish spoken in Galicia, Spain (above Portugal).

4. Giovanni on 02 Dec 2007 at 10:06 pm #

   To me it sounds like a dialect (or language, whatever you want to call it) from the North of Italy. I’ll take a guess: Venetian?

5. KS on 02 Dec 2007 at 10:12 pm #

   I second Galician (Galego).

6. Alan Coady on 02 Dec 2007 at 11:07 pm #

   I’d guess Portuguese from Angola or Mozambique.

7. Daydreamer on 02 Dec 2007 at 11:09 pm #

   It seems to be strongy influenced by Portuguese.
   If it’s not Galician, as AR and KS suggested, I’d go for Crioulo, spoken in the former Portuguese colonies of Western Africa.

8. Daniele on 02 Dec 2007 at 11:24 pm #

   It’s some dialect from the north-east of Italy, it doesn’t sound like venetian proper, but close to that area. I can tell not only from the intonation, but also for the sheer amount of swearing against deities and vulgar words (which is pretty much all I got, as the speaker sounds drunk)… :)

9. Alessandro Delgado on 03 Dec 2007 at 1:21 am #

   I couldn’t understand a thing (I speak Portuguese and Spanish), but it sounds like the dialects of Portuguese spoken in Goa, in India.

   And I also can’t understand a thing from these dialects, so ;D

10. Alessandro Delgado on 03 Dec 2007 at 1:23 am #

    I heard it again, and I can understand he’s cursing. I heard “cul”, “desgraçai”, “cuillone” and stuff… Still don’t know quite what he’s saying, though

11. Dr. C.S. Lewis-Barrie, Ph.D. on 03 Dec 2007 at 1:41 am #

    The language in this clip is Venetic (also Venetisch, Feneto, or Enetikos), which has a unique origin among today’s modern European tongues.

    First attested from some 2,600 years ago in short inscriptions found near modern Venice, Venetic is thought to have been a mixed language of Italic and Daco-Thracian elements. It was once held to be an early Germanic dialect, sharing some phonological elements with the group, though the timeframe for Germanic in this region of Italy makes the match more likely a case of confluence or false friendship.

    Despite academic dismissal, the Germanic-Venetic theory gave rise to the notion that Germanic tribes settled Europe in pre-historic times and thus are responsible for significant events in Western history usually attested to other linguistic and ethnic groups. Today, Venetic is maintained by fraternal organizations in Europe and the United States.

    The speaker in this sound clip is none other than Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is a member of one such fraternal organization, the Alldeutschebund (”Pan-German movement”), an organization allegedly seeking total German domination of Europe through political and economic means. In it he is reciting the Alldeutschebund Eid, the group’s pledge, in Venetic.

12. Simon on 03 Dec 2007 at 9:23 am #

    The language is indeed Venetian (vèneto), which is spoken mainly in Venice, Italy and the surrounding area. The recording comes from a Venetian version of An Officer and a Gentleman (Ufficiale Gentiluomo).

13. Giovanni on 03 Dec 2007 at 12:21 pm #

    By the way, this is Venetian, whereas Venetic is a different, specific thing that is extinct since 2000 years; we only have 50 words of it.

14. Daniele on 03 Dec 2007 at 6:25 pm #

    I apologise with Venetians — I’m Abruzzese (I live in Chieti) and I can’t recognise all the variations of north-eastern dialects. :)

15. Evans Knight on 03 Dec 2007 at 8:36 pm #

    hm. i was gonna guess Cape Verdean Portuguese.